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February 6th 2018 saw the first test launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 Heavy rocket.

During the main core's landing on the marine landing pad, the connection was lost. As such it is not immediately clear whether the launch and landing were a complete success or not.

What was the main core's fate in the end? Did it manage to land correctly?

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    $\begingroup$ I am aware that there might not be an answer yet. I am very interested to learn of the fate of the core whenever a statement is made however. $\endgroup$
    – JAD
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 21:35
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    $\begingroup$ This question is going to have 6 simultaneous answers as soon as the tweet from SpaceX hits telling us the fate of the core. $\endgroup$
    – JPhi1618
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 21:55
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    $\begingroup$ And 6 uninformed answers before that. $\endgroup$
    – Russell Borogove
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 23:09
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    $\begingroup$ "Musk: Center core didn't make it. Only one engine relit." twitter.com/jasonrdavis/status/961028209792909313 $\endgroup$
    – Russell Borogove
    Commented Feb 7, 2018 at 0:13
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    $\begingroup$ @RussellBorogove doesn't that make it not POB anymore? Seems to me there is a very objective answer. $\endgroup$
    – JAD
    Commented Feb 7, 2018 at 5:50

4 Answers 4

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The core has been lost, according to the technical stream:

If you wait until ~38 min and 30 seconds, the announcer says "We lost the center core".

Update:

Elon Musk has confirmed that the center core didn't make it. To paraphrase from the SpaceX post-launch news conference

The center core obviously didn't land on the droneship, or we would have shown that... It ran out of propellant to relight the engines... It was the center one [that ignited], I believe, and the outer two did not, and that was not enough to slow it down. [something I can't make out] hit the water at three hundred miles an hour and took out two of the engines on the droneship... That sounds like some pretty fun footage, so if the cameras didn't get blown up as well, then we'll put that on a blooper reel

That was ~41 minutes into the video, I believe.

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    $\begingroup$ Do you think Lost means video? Or as in misplace? Or as in destroyed? I am not so sure that is not a lost video on center core. Of course, time will tell. $\endgroup$
    – geoffc
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 22:01
  • $\begingroup$ Was this when the main stream announcers were about to say something about the core, and they stopped? Or did this happen way after that? $\endgroup$
    – JPhi1618
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 22:02
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    $\begingroup$ @geoffc I think it means the core itself was lost; I had the impression that the callout for lost video is something along the lines of "lost telemetry" or "lost downlink". $\endgroup$
    – awksp
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 22:04
  • $\begingroup$ @JPhi1618 To be honest, I'm not sure. I had the technical stream audio over the main stream video, and on listening to the main stream there's a bit much going on for me to tell where exactly it is. Sorry :( $\endgroup$
    – awksp
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 22:05
  • $\begingroup$ @geoffc, I went back and watched, the flight crew says that they lost the center core about 5 seconds before the smoke appears on feed. You can also see some sort of debris fly off screen in the smoke as well. From re-watching that 10 sec segment a few times, I would best guess that the core didn't slow down enough to land safely. $\endgroup$
    – ggiaquin16
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 23:13
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The feed was in fact in the background the whole time.... they did not loose signal as stated by the presentors. Here you can see highlighted in red, smoke, smoke clears and then you can see the whole drone ship pad with no rocket.

Just released yesterday (10th of March) actual footage of the centre core crashing:

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  • $\begingroup$ They did lose the feed for a bit - if they hadn't the smoke would have been seen moving. Good video though. $\endgroup$
    – Baldrickk
    Commented Feb 14, 2018 at 18:09
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if you watch the part in the feed when they warn that the cameras might cut out due to vibration immediatly after the screen appears to go grey. but if you look closely you can still see the handrailing in the bottom left of the shot. i believe the grey is smoke. and when it first goes grey you can see a projectile shoot off to the right side of the screen... all signs points to a center core crash.

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    $\begingroup$ I can see the projectile. $\endgroup$
    – Uzer
    Commented Feb 6, 2018 at 23:43
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In addition to the verbal confirmations that it went into the sea next to the drone ship spacex now seems to have released A video "falcon heavy and starman" showing (among other mission highlights) the core crashing into the sea next to the drone ship.

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